Gatling Gun - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google The Gatling gun is a machine gun that consists of multiple barrels revolving around a central axis and is capable of being fired at a rapid rate. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler of the Union army first used the gun at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia , in 1864-1865. Did You Know? Richard Gatling had actually hoped that the tremendous power of his new weapon would discourage large scale battles and show the folly of war. The gun is named for its inventor, Richard Jordan Gatling, a physician. Gatling neatly divided his sympathies during the Civil War. While trying to sell machine guns to the Union, he was an active member of the Order of American Knights, a secret group of Confederate sympathizers and saboteurs. The conservatism of the Union army chief of ordinance and the unreliability of early models of the gun frustrated efforts to sell it to the U.S. Army. But Gatling soon improved on the original six-barrel, .58 caliber version of the gun, which fired 350 rounds a minute, by designing a ten-barrel, .30 caliber model, which fired 400 rounds a minute.

The U.S. Army adopted the Gatling gun in 1866, and it remained standard until it was replaced in the early twentieth century by the Maxim single-barrel machine gun. The Gatling gun played an important role after the Civil War, giving small numbers of U.S. troops enormous advantages in firepower over the western Indians. In newly colonized portions of Africa and Asia, the Gatling gun provided the Europeans’ margin of victory over local forces. A modern, helicopter-mounted version of the Gatling gun, the Vulcan minigun, was widely used by the U.S. Army in the Indochina war. The minigun, popularly known as ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’ for the flames and smoke emitted from its muzzle, fires at the staggering rate of 6,000 rounds per minute, enough to decimate an entire village in one burst. The minigun continues to be used as a counterinsurgency weapon in Central America. A larger version, the 20mm Vulcan is used for antiaircraft defense. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors.

Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Tags The Gatling Gun In The Civil War The Gatling Gun Brief Description The Gatling gun saw only limited use in the Civil War, (Ben Butler used two around Petersburg and eight on gunboats; Porter acquired one; and Hancock ordered twelve for his I (Veteran) Corps), however, the conflict did test this weapon, perhaps the first successful true machine gun used in warfare. Invented by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling, the Civil War model served as the precursor of more successful models. The Gatling gun was a hand-crank-operated weapon with 6 barrels revolving around a central shaft. The cartridges were fed to the gun by gravity through a hopper mounted on the top of the gun. 6 cam-operated bolts alternately wedged, fired, and dropped the bullets, which were contained in steel chambers. Gatling used the 6 barrels to partially cool the gun during firing. Since the gun was capable of firing 600 rounds a minute, each barrel fired 100 rounds per minute. The gun had a number of problems, however.

The bores were tapered, and often the barrels and chambers did not exactly align, affecting accuracy and velocity. The chamber system itself, in which a paper cartridge was contained inside a capped steel chamber, was both expensive and fragile. While the gun showed much promise and fired the standard .58-caliber ammunition, it had so many drawbacks and was so radical in both design and purpose that Gatling was unable to interest the U.S. government. The army purchased none of his guns, but Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, after a field test, purchased 12 for $1,000 each and two were used on the Petersburg front in 1864 and apparently were considered successful. In Jan. 1865 Gatling's improved Model 1865 gun was tested by the Ordnance Department. Among other things, this weapon used rimfire copper-cased cartridges instead of the steel-chambered paper variety. Though this model did not see service, it was adopted officially in 1866. Having at last received government approval, Gatling began to sell his guns throughout the world; they achieved lasting fame in the post-war years. Background The revolving bundle of barrels to which Dr.

Gatling attached a hopper feed for steel chargers solved many of the problems then plaguing machine gun designers. First, the hopper permitted the sustained fire desired. With sustained fire, as in the Ager or Williams gun, came hazards; expansion from over heating and either jamming, or erosion of the bore. Gatling solved this by adding barrels. The time delay between the firing of succeeding shots in any one barrel, as it revolved about to return to its place before the firing mechanism, was enough to permit some cooling. Originally Gatling conceived of an enclosed barrel group with a cylinder about the barrels to hold cooling materials. This was found to be not necessary and the Gatling guns from first until the brass-jacket Ml883 were exposed barrel models. It can be answered with some degree of certainty why Gatling invented his gun. That is, in the lives of many other inventors, statements of purpose are often lacking. Some may have invented such-and-such for patriotic motives, to get rich quick, or some other mundane, prosaic reason. Dr. Gatling, independently wealthy at the start of the war, has chosen to set forth his own reasons quite clearly.

In 1877, Gatling lived in Hartford, Connecticut next door to Mrs. Colt, widow of the late Samuel Colt at whose factory the Gatling Gun Company now contracted the manufacture of their guns. Mrs. Colts little niece, Elizabeth Jarvis, was a frequent visitor to the Gatling's hospitable residence, and Gatling explained to her his beliefs at the time he developed the guns: Hartford, June 15th, 1877 My Dear Friend. It may be interesting to you to know how I came to invent the gun which bears my name; I will tell you: In 1861, during the opening events of the war, (residing at that time in Indianapolis, md.,) I witnessed almost daily the departure of troops to the front and the return of the wounded, sick, and dead. The most of the latter lost their lives, not in battle, but by sickness and exposure incident to the service.

It occurred to me if I could invent a machine--a gun-- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished. I thought over the subject and finally this idea took practical form in the invention of the Gatling Gun. Yours truly, R.J. Gatling By the time of Gatling's elderly years, the story had grown slightly in nobility; as his granddaughter, Mrs. Albert Newcombe, remembers it. "He was a most peace-loving soul, and I remember that his reason for inventing that then-lethal gun, was to make war so horrible that it would end wars." But Gatling's own written words seems to be less glamourous, for in 1864 he touched somewhat on his motives in a letter to President Lincoln. "The arm in question is an invention of no ordinary character," he wrote from Indianapolis to the President on February 18, 1864.

"It is regarded by all who have seen it operate, as the most effective implement of warfare invented during the war, and it is just the thing needed to aid in crushing the present rebellion." (Emphasis supplied by Dr. Gatling). Taking a swipe at the Ager gun in a postscript, Gatling concluded his appeal to Lincoln to have the gun adopted by the Army with: "I have seen an inferior arm known as the 'coffee mill gun,' which I am informed has not given satisfaction in practical tests on the battlefield. I assure you my invention is no 'coffee mill gun',--but is entirely a different arm, and is entirely free from the accidents and objections raised against that arm." There is in this a hint of the efficiency, the veritable "automation" which Gatling, a mechanical scientist first and always, sought to bring to the battlefront. His first gun was patented November 4, 1862, but was in existence, working well on July 14, 1862. That day, T.A. Morris, A. Ballweg, and D.G. Rose certified t the working of the gun which they had tested at direction of Governor Oliver P. Morton of Indiana.

"The discharge can be made with all desirable accuracy as rapidly as 150 times a minute, and may be continued for hours without danger, as we think, from over heating." Source of Information: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War", Boatner's "Civil War Dictionary", and Edwards's "Civil War Guns". This Page last updated 04/06/05 Gatling1865 The Rotating Assembly Unrolled view of all six locks As in his previous model, Gatling wrapped a number (6 in this case) of complete rifles around a common axis. Each rifle consisted of a barrel, a cartridge cavity and a lock which can be made to oscillate backwards and forwards to load a cartridge, fire it and then retract the spent case. The locks are carried in a lock cylinder which is keyed on the same shaft that carries the barrel assembly and cartridge carrier, so that the locks are always perfectly aligned to their respective barrels. The whole assembly is rotated by handle driving a pinion that engages with a cog wheel on the gun axis. The Locks Each lock consists of a plunger, made up of a butt piece, into which is screwed a solid shaft which is connected to a flange and the breech-pin.

The firing hammer is a sleeve with a lug, and is mounted on the shaft where it can be forced forwards by a coil spring. As the plunger moves forward, the breech pin forces the cartridge into the rifle's breech and holds it there when that cartridge is fired by the punch. The punch consists of a collar that can move feebly on the plunger's shaft, and a punch arm that is set into the breech pin. As the cartridge is forced into the rifle's breech, the punch is pushed back leaving a small gap between the collar of the punch and the plunger's flange. When the hammer is released, it strikes the punch collar, forcing it forward. The impact causes the punch, which had rested on the rim of the cartridge, to compress the rim of the cartridge and explodes the fulminate within the cartridge rim to ignite the bullet's charge. As the whole assembly is rotated by the gearing, one of the hollows in the cartridge carrier passes under a cartridge box and pick up a fresh cartridge. At this point the lock is fully withdrawn in the lock cylinder.

The assembly continues to rotate and the butt piece of the plunger starts to ride up on the rear cam inclined plane (shown in green), so forcing the lock forwards, and with it the cartridge. As the plunger moves forwards it carries the sleeve-hammer with it until the lug of the hammer comes into contact with the rear face of the stationary cocking cam (shown in blue). The hammer is now forced back so compressing the spring while at the same time the plunger is forced forwards by the inclined plane cam. Immediately prior to firing the butt piece reaches a flat portion of the cam, and at this point the plunger has pushed the cartridge fully into the chamber of its rifle barrel. The punch, which normally extends a little beyond the end of the plunger has been pushed back a small way, leaving a small space between the collar of the punch and the flange of the plunger. With the barrel at the 6 o'clock position, the cocking cam is abruptly cut away, and this allows the hammer sleeve to be driven forwards by the spring. The hammer hits the punch collar driving it forwards and pinching the rim flange of the cartridge, which is thereby ignited.

The flat portion of the rear cam continues a little past the 6 o'clock position to keep the lock in place as a precaution against a hang-fire. The recoil force of the discharge is carried through the plunger and butt piece to the solid rear cam. As the assembly rotates further, the lug on the rear end of the butt piece comes up against the retracting cam-surface (shown in red), and the plunger is pulled back bringing with it the spent cartridge, which is allowed to fall clear of the cavity of the cartridge carrier. Design Weaknesses With the hindsight of many years we can see two major design weaknesses of the 1865 design. The first is the the punch which makes contact with the cartridge rim at an early stage in the cycle, but is only kicked forward when the hammer is released. At high firing rates and when the lock plungers become fouled, it is possible for the punch to become so stiff that it ignites the cartridge when it first comes into contact with it. This causes a premature ignition - the cartridge is not fully into the protection of the rifle's breech. Later designs of Gatling gun ensured that the firing pin or punch was held back until the desired moment of ignition.

The second design weakness is in the adjustment of the 'headspace'. When the gun is set up, the length of each plunger is adjusted so that there is no slack between the rear of the cartridge and the solid rear cam. However, as firing continues, the metal of the gun expands resulting in the plunger not being as tight up against the breech as desired with resultant loss of range and potential damage to the gun. The 1865 gun includes a screw at the forward end of the frame to make adjustments to the headspace - the space between the plunger and the chambered cartridge. However, to make the adjustments, a gunner has to stand at the front of the gun, which has several of its rifle barrels loaded, and screw the assembly closer together. This had, on occasion, the result that one rifle was discharged, causing injury to the gunner. It was not until the 1880s that this problem was finally solved. Notes on Gatling's Patent No. 47,631 Gatling patent shows a 4-barrel gun, although he is at pains to point out that his mechanism can be made with a different number of barrels.

There is no record that a 4-barrel gun was ever built; instead 6-barrel guns were manufactured, and I have shown this in my animation. Gatling's patent specified a casing around the barrels which would hold water, plaster-of-Paris (!) or other material to preserve the barrels from 'injurious expansion' by excessive heating. This casing is labelled the water jacket in the diagram above and is shown in the animation. However, none of the contemporary drawing of 1865 guns nor existing examples have this casing, so it appears to have been dropped in the production models. Gatling Gun Gatling Gun to get a Gatling Gun T-shirt! The Gatling gun was the first easily usable, and reliable machine gun to be designed and put into use; and it got its first taste of action during the Civil War. What is truly amazing is the fact that the basic design of the Gatling gun is still used in modern military forces. So what is that design? It consists of six to ten rotating gun barrels, each of which has its own firing mechanism.

The barrels are turned by a hand crank (modern guns use an electric motor), and as cartridges are fed into the gun, each barrel automatically loads, fires, and ejects its cartridge in succession. Since the barrels fire one at a time, time is allowed for each barrel to cool before it fires again. This overcame a major failing of machine gun designs up to that time, as most guns tended to overheat and expand due to continuous firing. This resistance to overheating, as well as the gun's simplicity of design and ease of use were key to the good impression the weapon made during its first test. Not to mention the fact that it could fire 150-200 rounds per minute... The new machine gun was first designed in 1861, but was not ready for testing until July of 1862, when it was test fired at Indianapolis. The test was done as a demonstration for local military officers, and political officials. After the test, a report was sent to the Governor of Indiana by a number of men he had asked to investigate the new gun. In the report, the Governor was advised to purchase some guns for further testing in the battlefield.

The following reasons were given for the recommendation: "The barrels are so arranged as to fire independently of each other, so that an injury to one does not affect the others. There are no complicated parts, and the common soldier can keep it in order as readily as he can his musket. It is so substantial as to endure without injury the same usage as an ordinary field-piece. The discharge can be made with all desirable accuracy as rapidly as one hundred and fifty times per minute, and may be continued for hours without danger, as we think, from overheating. Two men are sufficient to work the gun, and two horses can carry it over the field with the rapidity of cavalry." After more successful testing, the gun was finally patented in November of 1862. The new weapon was soon called the Gatling gun, after its inventor Richard Gatling; but it would be several years before the true value of the invention was realized. Richard Gatling Richard Gatling (left) was no novice inventor. In fact, by 1861 he was already independently wealthy thanks to his genius for invention. He got started young.

As a boy, Richard Gatling got to work with his dad as he was perfecting the invention of a cotton seed planter, and a machine for thinning young cotton plants. In his mid-teens, Gatling worked in the county clerks office; but by the time he was twenty, he had gone into business for himself. His first solo invention was a propulsion screw for steam powered ships. Unfortunately, when he went to Washington D.C. to patent his design, he found that an almost identical design had been patent just a few short months earlier. Throughout the rest of his life, Gatling would go on to invent a wheat planting drill (1839), a double-action hemp break (1850), a steam tractor (1857), a steam powered ram and a new gunmetal alloy during the war years, and a motorized tractor many years later. He also received patents for improvements on his own inventions as well as improvements to bicycles, toilets, and many more... All of these things contributed to Gatling's great success, but the invention he is most remembered for is, of course, the Gatling gun. So what was his inspiration to invent this machine gun?

Well if he is to be believed, he was largely motivated by humanitarian concerns. In later years, Gatling would claim that he invented his machine gun in the hope that it would end war, or at the very least, make war less costly... Seems kind of backward, but he had his idea reasoned out. He felt that such an effective killing machine would make war too horrible, and wars would no longer happen. Failing that, he thought that the guns would at least mean that not as many men would be needed in the army, thereby lowering the cost of war. Here is something he wrote to a friend of his concerning his reasoning: "I witnessed almost daily the departure of troops to the front and the return of the wounded, sick, and dead. The most of the latter lost their lives, not in battle, but by sickness and exposure incident to the service. It occurred to me if I could invent a machine--a gun-- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished.

I thought over the subject and finally this idea took practical form in the invention of the Gatling Gun." Interesting note: Despite spending the entire war trying to get Union officials to adopt the single greatest advance in battlefield weaponry of that era, Richard Gatling was suspected of being a supporter of the Confederacy. Even as he was corresponding with Abraham Lincoln about his invention, the Union Army was investigating him. This investigation was based on the suspicion that Gatling was an active and dangerous Southern sympathizer. Although this investigation never led to anything, it does add an interesting twist to the story... The Gatling Gun in the Civil War Perhaps, if Union officials had spent more time investigating the invention rather than the inventor, they would have realized the enormous potential of this innovative new gun. Not all Union officials were blind to the value of this new gun. After seeing the weapon fired, General Horatio Wright wrote a report which recommend the Army test it further. In his report he included the following statement: "I have examined ... the invention known as the 'Gatling gun' and it seems to me to possess much merit." Despite such endorsements, and many successful tests, the Union Army never adopted the gun.

A couple Union officers bought a few the guns privately, so the guns did see very limited action during the war. The most notable purchase was by General Benjamin F. Butler, who bought twelve guns at $1,000 each. Two of those guns were used at Petersburg in 1864 to defend against Confederate attacks, and the guns worked quite well. Other than that instance, the new weapon saw very little battlefield use during the Civil War. Finally, after further testing, the U.S. Army approved the weapon for purchase in 1866. The officer who oversaw the decisive test included the following sentence in his report: "The moral effect of the Gatling gun would be very great in repelling an assault, as there is not a second of time for the assailants to advance between the discharges." It only took the Army officials five years to catch on to the advantages of the machine gun, the beauty of government bureaucracy, right? Although Gatling's original gun has been obsolete for many years, there is a modern version that still uses the rotating barrels design. The only difference is the new gun fires about 4000 rounds per minute rather than 200...

Here is cool video showing a modern Gatling gun in action. I'm sure Richard Gatling would be proud. Gatling1862 Early Machine Guns Generals in the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) often used the tactic of frontal attacks using large number of men to overwhelm the defenders, on the basis that it took time for each of the defenders to reload, and in that time, the surviving attackers could reach and grapple with the enemy. What the defenders needed was to increase the firing rate, and the critical issue was the time taken to reload. The majority of troops in the Civil War were equipped with muzzle loading rifles, such as Springfields or Enfields, and under good conditions, a man could fire two or three shots every minute. To increase the firing rate would require a metallic cartridge, and these were not suitable for the millions of muzzle loading rifles manufactured during that war. However, some specialist machine guns were developed and tried out. The most notable was the Ager 'Coffee Mill' machine gun. This was a single barrelled gun with a hopper and a hand crank.

The cartridges were simple steel tubes, open at one end and fitted with a percussion cap at the other, into which a standard .58 paper cartridge was loaded. The hopper was filled with these steel cartridges, and then by turning the crank, they could be driven into the breech, fired and then extracted. The fired cartridges would then be collected and reloaded. [G1] The makings of a paper cartridge .58 rim-fire cartridge in chamber One of the drawbacks of a fast-firing weapon was the heating effect of the burning gunpowder, which caused the breech to expand and fail to seat properly. In order to solve this problem in 1862, Gatling took the idea of a preloaded steel cartridge-chamber and arranged for six barrels to rotate about a central spindle, with each barrel firing as it came to the 12 o'clock position in its travel, and for five-sixths of its life it was cooling between shots. [G1]. The first six Gatling guns were built at the end of 1862 at the works of Miles Greenwood Foundry & Machine Works of Cincinnati, Ohio. Before they were delivered the factory, patterns and guns were destroyed by a fire.

Production resumed at the Cincinnati Type Foundry in 1863. Thirteen Gatling guns (Second Model 1862) were manufactured, and 12 purchased by Major General Benjamin Butler (the last was bought by Admiral David Porter). [G3]. The animation shows the first model of 1862, where the steel cartridge-chambers were loaded with the paper cartridges used by the .58 musket then in use. These were cumbersome to load, and needed a percussion cap to be fitted to the rear of the chamber. However, when production resumed in 1863, Richard Gatling had recognised the value of the .58 rimfire metallic cartridge, and these bullets were fitted into the steel cartridge-chambers. General Butler (apparently) used his Gatling guns to good effect during the Union's siege of Petersburg, Virginia. However, political issues intervened and Gatling did not sell any further guns during that conflict. By 1865, Gatling had completely redesigned his loading mechanism, to take advantage of the metallic cartridge. In his 1865 model the rimfire cartridge was loaded into a chamber in the rear of each barrel, dispensing with the steel cartridge-chambers.

The basic principle of loading several barrels in sequence with a metallic cartridge has endured since 1865, and is still in use today. The First Gatling Gun - Model of 1862 In 1862, Richard J Gating patented a gun capable of rapid fire. It was not the first such gun, but has proved to be the most enduring. This page looks at Gatling's first design, which used a hopper filled with steel tubes pre-loaded with the paper cartridges currently in use during the American Civil war. The animation is based on Gatling's patent of November 1862 [G4], but it is recognised that the second model, which saw actual action, used rimfire metallic cartridges. Naming of the Parts - the 1862 Gatling Gun, and (roll-over) Gatlings original Patent drawings How it Worked The key to the 1862 Gatling gun was a steel cartridge-chamber which contained the force of the explosion of the gunpowder charge.

Unlike the Ager cartridge, the Gatling cartridge chamber was not pushed into the rear of the barrel, instead cartridge-chamber had to be aligned and forced tightly against the rear of the barrel at the instant that the charge was ignited. In the 1862 (First model) the steel cartridge-chambers used the same paper cartridge as used in the infantry Springfield and Enfield rifle muskets - a .58 Minie rifled bullet powered by 65 grains of gunpowder wrapped in a paper cartridge and ignited by a percussion cap that was fitted to the rear of the cartridge-chamber. With a good stock of pre-loaded cartridge-chambers, the gun could produce a high rate of fire. The fired cartridge-chambers would then be reloaded. The second model, which was used operationally by General Butler, used metallic cartridges which were easier to load into the cartridge-chamber tubes. The Gatling gun consists of an assembly of six barrels, a carrier, lock-cylinder and cog wheel all fixed to a central shaft so that they rotate together when a pinion wheel is turned by a hand crank on the right rear side of the gun.

The lock-cylinder is bored to hold six locks that are free to move within the lock cylinder. Each lock contains a spring-loaded firing hammer, which has a tenon extending up through a slot in the lock cylinder and which rests against a ring cut with an inclined plane (yellow in diagram). Lock rides up over green plug, pushing the cartridge-chamber against rear of barrel (rollover) As the assembly is rotated the carrier picks up a loaded cartridge-chamber from the hopper. Then, as the assembly approaches the top-most point (the 12 o'clock position) the tenon on the firing pin is pushed back by the inclined plane, thereby compressing the firing spring. The solid bulkhead (red) at the rear of the lock cylinder is made strong enough to absorb the recoil from each shot. A steel plug or wedge (green) is fitted into this bulkhead so that when the lock approaches the 12 o'clock position, the rounded rear of a lock rides up on the wedge, and the lock moves forwards. As it does so, it pushes the loaded cartridge-cylinder hard up against the rear of the barrel to make an (almost) gas-tight seal.

The hammer is released, and it moves forward to strike the percussion cap (or in the second model, to crush the rim of the rim-fire cartridge) and the round is fired. As the assembly continues to rotate, the lock moves off the plug and is withdrawn by a spring. A second inclined plane is cut into the ring to pull the hammer back to disengage it from the rear of the cartridge-chamber. This leaves the fired cartridge-cylinder free to fall from the carrier to the ground. In case it sticks, a pair of arms, or comb, are attached on the left side of the frame to force it out of the carrier. Points to note about the 1862 Gatling are: a. the cartridge, both paper and metallic, is contained in a cartridge-chamber, which is strong enough to withstand the explosion of the powder. b. the cartridge-chamber is pushed up hard against the rear of the corresponding barrel by the steel plug just before firing. The screw at the front of the frame is used to adjust the longituinal position of the barrels to ensure a tight fit. The shock of the recoil is transmitted through the lock and steel plug to the strong bulkhead. c.

In the 1862 model, the mechanism fires the uppermost barrel - i.e. the barrel at the 12 o'clock position is fired. In later Gatling guns, from the Model 1865, it is the barrel at the lowest point of travel, the 6 o'clock position, that is fired. Gatling Gun History Civil War Pictures Gatling Gun History More than 140 years ago Dr. Richard Gatling, from Indiana came up with an idea so horrifying that he felt it would hasten the end of the new and already bloody Civil War. How could any army charge into the face of a battery of weapons, each capable of the fire power of 100 men and expect to survive? Unfortunately, many armies are not run by reason, but by politics. Dr. Gatling wrote a letter explaining his idea. With the advent of Richard Gatling's improved battery gun, patented November 4, 1862, warfare was forever changed. The era of the machine gun was born. Although only a handful of the original 1862 model Gatling Guns were ever built, it was enough for military visionaries of the 19th century.

The first gatling guns were crude, very crude to be honest. Gun barrels had tapers up to 1/16th of an inch from the breech to the muzzle. Lead would shave, bullets tumble, and black powder spewed forth in all directions. But the battery guns would fire. The awesomeness of the gatling guns firepower, from 250 to 600 rounds per minute was truly incomprehensible. In 1863 General Benjamin Butler purchased a dozen gatling guns and 12,000 rounds of ammunition out of his own pocket for the then staggering sum of $12,000.00. Although their usage was limited, the new gatling guns were accorded great praise during the battle of Petersburg. Other battery gun deployments were reported but not documented. Admiral D.D. Porter also purchased a unit of the new firearms for the Mississippi River Squadron.

By the Civil War's end, the War Department took keen interest in this technological marvel and rather than fading into obscurity as the Ager "Coffee Mill Gun" or the Ripley "Revolving Battery Gun" did, Gatling and his famous battery gun patent became an indelible part of US combat history. A battery gun unit We chose to copy the very first gatling gun model as this gun is considered a muzzle loaded, antique black powder weapon rather than a modern gun. Instead of a conventional rim or center fire cartridge, a special "chamber" was created that housed the standard military issue 58 caliber paper cartridge. The cartridge was inserted into the front end of this cylinder and a regular percussion cap was placed on a nipple at the rear. In essence, each "chamber" is a miniature muzzle loaded weapon all by itself. All battery gun models from 1865 onward fed conventional style cartridges. As a matter of fact, Gatling Guns were chambered in 29 different calibers for 25 countries during their 56 year history. The one inch 1865 battery gun model was tested at length in July of 1866 by Captain T.G.

Baylor who found, "The moral effect of the Gatling Gun would be very great in repelling an assault, as there is not a second of time for the assailants to advance between the guns discharges." For the next 40 years, the Gatling Gun became integral with armies around the world. Russia became the first foreign purchaser of Gatling Guns in1862 with the purchase of 100 Guns at a cost of $1500 each. Literally hundreds of Gatling's were later manufactured in Russia under license. Russia actually built and had more Gatling Guns in the service than any other country in the world. There are reports that these battery guns were still in service on the China border during World War II. Scores of military conflicts around the world would have Gatling Guns present during the next 40 years. The Afgans using camel mounted gatling guns defeated a persian cavalry 3 to 4 times their size.The British at Alexandria owed their lives to one Gatling Gun battery wheeled down the streets by hand. Gatling Guns were also present in India and the Sudan.

The Turks lost 800 men in battle in 10 minutes to Russian Gatling Guns at Shipka pass. The battles in Zuzuland in the late 1870's also saw these battery guns in action. The list goes on and on. Whole armies and indeed nations owed their lives Dr. Richard Gatling's most famous invention. The natives of the world also employed Gatling Guns both as ship mounted weapons and on very light hand maneuverable carriages. The U.S. used Gatling guns throughout the West during the Indian war era. By 1895 there were 494 Gatling Guns in use throughout the U.S. Military. The History of the Gatling Gun - Home- Introduction The History of the Gatling Gun Bibliography Intro Welcome to my MHD project! This project contains information concerning the invention of the Gatling gun and how it has been innovated over time, as well as how it has impacted warfare since its creation. The Gatling gun was created by American inventor Richard J. Gatling in 1861, and became famous for being the first successful rapid firing weapons platform.

Another crucial characteristic this weapon contained was its ten repeating barrels that allowed the gun to shoot at unheard of speeds without overheated too quickly. The original Gatling gun first saw action in the Civil War after being patented on May 9, 1862. The original Gatling gun did not have a trigger; this gun was crank-operated and required a four man crew. Since then, the gun has seen many modifications to meet the growing needs and changes of the battlefield throughout time. The gun now uses a trigger and can be fired by a single man, or even electronically via remote control. Most modern Gatling guns also have six repeating barrels instead of the original ten. In addition to this, the Gatling gun has been improved so that it can be mounted to vehicles such as jet fighters, war ships, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Different models of the gun have also been created. The M61 Vulcan was made specifically to be mounted onto jet fighters and heavy duty attack helicopters for aerial combat, and the M134 minigun was created as a portable system to be carried by soldiers for easy and mobile use on the ground.

The Gatling gun, with its many improvements and innovations since its original creation, has become a major player in battle tactics by allowing the battlefield to be reshaped with its tremendous firepower and high versatility. The F-104 Starfighter was one of the first US Military vehicles that a Gatling gun was affixed to Create a free website The Gatling Gun The Gatling Gun Details Published: 01 December 2009 Ever since firearms were invented, did men try to make them shoot faster. The big change from muzzleloading arms to breechloaders was stimulated by the fact the newer arms could accomplish this aim. Several designs were tried, some like the infamous Puckle Gun which failed miserably. But multibarreled actions of one kind or another seemed to be the path because of overheating fears. Volley guns were tried but were nightmares to reload. An American, Dr. Richard Gatling, was working on his idea of a machine gun, and produced a working prototype by 1862. He had the usual inventor troubles getting it to work properly, then hit on copper self contained cartridges, the break through he needed. He offered it to the U.S.

Army, embroiled in the Civil War at the time, and was turned down by the less than forward looking Chief of Ordinance. By 1865, the redesigned (again) Gatling was a contender. Each barrel had it's own bolt, striker and extractor making it 6 complete rifles fired and reloaded in rapid succession by turning a hand crank. Later designs had 10 barrels. The gravity feed hopper was probably it's greatest asset. The Gatling could sustain a faster rate of fire than the competing designs, like the French Mitrailleuse. The British adopted it around 1871, and since they were embroiled in many colonial actions of the time, it was immediately employed. It's effect on native formations was devastating. The gun was used as a field piece, from the weight of the gun and size of the carriage, which left the gun crew exposed. This was more of a drawback against European armies than native ones though, as the 3rd world countries had little artillery and few snipers. The British may have been heavy handed against their colonial foes, but must be seen in the context of their time.

Americans could be said to have been the same way, using B-52's against the North Vietnamese. The effect would have been the same. Native populations had some success against the British, but in the long run, they had no chance. The colonial period had to run it's course before these countries could hope to rule themselves. picture taken by Max Smith The first use of British Gatlings was the Battle of Ulundi. The Brits, still reeling from the defeat at Isandlwana, threw the kitchen sink at the Zulus, who were already down and out. On July 4th, 1879, 17,000 British and Native troops, armed with cannon and gatlings, met up with 24,000 Zulus armed with spears and old muskets. Thousands of Zulus surrounded the British and charged from all sides. It only took a half hour of concentrated firepower before the Zulus had enough. The rise of the British Gatling Gun and the end of the Zulu Nation happened on the same day. The Gatlings continued to serve till newer designs eclipsed them. Using human energy to run the gun never was a satisfactory arrangement.

With recoil and gas operated guns on the rise, the Galtlings were slowly discontinued. Even though Gatling himself adapted an electric motor to the Gatling Gun, it didn't really take off. It wasn't to be seen again till the rise of the minigun in the 60's, and the rotating barrel machine gun is now the most devastating bullet throwning gun on the planet.

Question: How many barrels did the original Gatling gun have
Answer: Six